The Apatcheez had a great time at the Christmas party/Challenge reveal on Saturday. This is the fifth year we have run the challenge and three people (Jan, Chris and Lynette) were rewarded for having entered a project each year. That’s what I call consistency. We had twelve quilts this year and they were so interesting it made it very difficult to judge. Just think how great it would be to have 27 quilts on display – that’s how many attended our party. So there’s a challenge for next year – if you didn’t enter this year you’ve got 365 days to come up with something for next year!

We continued with the Viewer’s choice method for both the winner and runner-up. With such a wide brief it would be too difficult to find someone qualified to make a decision – so I leave it to you! You’ll recall that the theme this year was ‘Home’.

I apologise for the quality of some of these photos but I know you want to see the entries NOW and this is what we have to work with. I’m sure the teenager-in-residence must be responsible for the blurred ones….

So….drum roll please….. this year’s winner was actually two people as there was a tie so this year’s winners, and the recipients of a $100 Apatchy Quilting voucher (that’s one each they don’t have to share) are…..

Julia – she used photographic fabric to create this beauty

and Lesa – who, again, used non-traditional methods including Inktense pencils to create this masterpiece –

Again, I apologise for the poor photography here but the reflective glass in the frame made a photo extremely difficult. Blame this one on me.

And the runner up, for a second time in two years, and the recipient of a $50 Apatchy Quilting voucher is Margaret with this wonderful creation

We were all looking at this on the day and every time you looked you found another little detail – it really is a lot of fun.

Several people mentioned how difficult it was to put only one project’s number in the prize box and you can see why when you have a look at the entries. Here are the remaining entries –

Angie actually followed a pattern to make this – something she doesn’t always do – and she did a great job. Look at those points….perfect!

Pat, a first-time entrant made this little piece based on a quilt she made for her daughter. It isn’t sideways but the number is – we fixed that after the photo.

Faith, another first-time entrant, gave us one of the blocks from her Baltimore Santa quilt. She used to be devoted to reproduction fabrics but I think you can see that we’re turning her to the light side! Beautiful needleturn work on this one.

Jan made this for her son. It is a drawing of his old house mounted (very cleverly with magnets) to an old piece of tin from the property and used barbed wire as a hanger. We thought it might be a problem with health and safety handling this one so we put it up out of reach!

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Maureen showed us the life she leads when she she goes off with her caravan club buddies – and it certainly looks like a good one.

Lynette pleased everyone with this fantasy garden, complete with dense quilting which is her forte.

Dee, another first time entrant, made this lovely quilt. She is such a well-travelled lady and this amusing quilt showed us a home of another land – love the fur-lined hood!

Chris didn’t disappoint – delighting us with this whimsical landscape that is so much her style. Who wouldn’t want this hanging in their sewing room to inspire them?

And finally, Robyn’s entry is here.

The photo doesn’t do this one justice as there was so much to see in the multiple applique pieces – great work Robyn!

And I also entered a quilt – just to show solidarity with those brave enough to enter the competition. It had to be done in three nights so it had to be simple and it had to be graphic. So here it is…

XLN Fabrics, who are the purveyors of the beautiful fabric I tempt you with – the Amy Butler florals, the Tula Pink fantasies and the Kaffe Fassett Collective colour explosions, very kindly donated fabric bundles for the lucky door prizes.  Here’s Heather very happy to win hers –

And here’s Faith, the-quilter-formerly-fond-of-reproductions-fabrics-but-now-almost-converted-to-COLOUR with hers –

I would also like to thank Teresa who brought her houses quilt in as an exhibit – unfortunately I didn’t get a very good photo of it by itself but you can see it in the background here

That photo shows Chris opening her secret Santa gift – this year we swapped needle cases and I think everyone was satisfied with their choice. As one person said “there were no duds this year”. Absolutely!

The other nice thing was the community that the group has – even though many only see each other at this time of year. The morning classes rarely see people from the evening classes but, as the teenager-in-residence says ‘there were no skirmishes’.

He distinguished himself by working flat out at the front desk – giving people their viewer’s choice forms and writing out raffle tickets. Here he is during peak time

And lots of people helped pack away at the end of the day which was really appreciated. Some washed up –

some wrapped leftovers

and some re-arranged furniture even though they were told not to “in their condition”.

Generally, everyone had lots of fun

There were more prizes, more gifts and more smiles but you get the idea. So thanks everyone for a lovely day. Until next time

Happy quilting

Kaye